Our country witnessed great anti-caste reformers who combatted the evil caste and contended for equal rights. Although the highest qualified Indian of his time and the maker of the constitution, a reformist who wrestled to bring equal rights for every Indian, and a crusader for uplifting the depressed castes, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is a Dalit. Despite the fact there is a Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in place, deplorable caste atrocities continue against Dalit children and many Dalit and tribal humans at large.
Days ago, on February 21, 2024, a Dalit student attending a government school was assaulted for wearing a locket with the image of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar by a Brahmin teacher, Bhupen Tiwari, in UP’s Chitrakot. The Brahmin school teacher was envious and cruel towards a Dalit child attending school and adorning himself with a locket.
Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule rightly said, “Let there be schools in every village, but away from the Brahmin school masters.” Now you can find all ‘brahminized’ savarna teachers in all schools who are following the foot steps of their masters.
Very recently, on February 15, a Dalit youth was brutally beaten up by Shubham Rajput and his aides to the point of breaking bones in Sathna, Madhya Pradesh. Sooner, the victim was forced to fall on their feet.
In another case, in Ajmer, Rajasthan, on January 26, 2024, a minor Dalit boy who was making a reel at a tourist spot was assaulted with rods and sticks hurling caste-based slurs by a group of men, Pushpendra, Rohit, and Gokul. In this harrowing crime, the boy was also made to kneel and be urinated upon!
In another crime on January 25, 2024, a Dalit student studying class 12 was assaulted and forced to chant ‘jai shriram’ by a right-wing mob in Kalburgi, Karnataka.
In all these cases, the perpetrators have no fear of the law. Regardless of their arrests by the police, they come out scot-free with their caste-class privileges and social contacts.
Last year, a nine-year-old Dalit boy was beaten to death for drinking water from an earthen pot by his schoolteacher, Chail Singh, in Rajasthan.
There were reports from alternate media and tweets about this bloody murder from Dalit intellectuals and individuals condemning and calling for action against caste discrimination. Despite that, numerous cases across India with reports of little children being tortured by oppressors have come to light.
These are a few incidents that have been recorded recently. But in reality, teachers in government . schools beat underprivileged students mercilessly. They are forced to clean toilets in schools. Many teachers use our kids to do their household work. These are downright violations of children’s rights. There are countless cases of oppressors thrashing little children for petty acts like plucking leaves or fruit, resulting in the loss of limbs or even lives.
So many Dalit students quit schooling in fear of facing the punishments and abuses. Many Dalit students who come from rural or urban government . schools must’ve experienced this toxic treatment by teachers. Sometimes you need not to pour the hot oil in the ears or sever the tongues; all you have to do is beat, bully, insult, and provoke them to lose interest and sometimes life to satisfy the Manu Dharma.
Brahminism, masquerading as Hinduism, built on the foundation of caste with inequality and discrimination as its guiding principles, is the most ruthless religion and sick culture. Caste Hindus, considering themselves higher in the atrocious hierarchy of ‘chaturvarna’, show no remorse for assaulting, humiliating, or killing Dalits, including helpless children.
Acknowledging caste-based crimes, creating a safe space to report such crimes by law enforcement officers, intensifying security for Dalits and children in particular, and having an unbiased judiciary that makes sure the perpetrators are prosecuted by the law and punished accordingly are the basic measures imperative to evade caste-based crimes.
